Review on La Omma Gastrobar - exceptional tapas experience

 

La Omma Gastrobar is located in Playa de Pinedo (the Pinedo beach) which is just behind the famous Valencia Malvarrosa beach and the Valencia port down south. It is around 15 minutes drive from the Valencia city centre or from the Valencia port.

Pinedo is a small village which to be honest if you are looking for anything wow to see as a tourist, you may be disappointed. However you are looking for some exception gastronomic experience that is reasonable priced and not touristy, La Omma may be a good place to start.

Barbalada de Bacalao

Everyone knows the Spanish and the Portuguese eat a lot of Bacalao (salted cod). This Bacalao 3 ways is one of the most creative dish (¡Me flipó!). Looking like a Millifeuille, it is made of creamy ajoarriero (a mixture of salted cod, potato purée, garlic and olive oil, a popular tapas from the inland regions of Spain) layered by crispy cod skin, with shredded of raw salted cod at the bottom layer, accompanied with red pepper jam and garlic cream. It was sensual experience in all form. I love how they use the sweet pepper jam to leverage the flavour of the cod. 

But I have to say it's very glittery. (usually I am more into authenticity... food colouring slightly puts me off 😬)

Coca de Cremoso de Berenjena

First thing first, I love how the napkin matched with Adri's shirt XD

This coca served with grilled aubergines, red pepper, picked green chilli (piparras / guindilla), anchovy mayo and smoked sardine. While it looks like a simple dish with a humble presentation, it was bursting with flavours firstly from the sweetness of the chargrilled smokey vegetables, then the tanginess of the picked chilli purée and finished with the oily raw smoked sardine. Beautiful.

Coca is a type of bread that is very popular and traditional in Catalunya, Valencian Community and Balearic Islands (basically all the places where Catalan / Valenciano is spoken. Catalan and Valenciano are practically the same language although I am not sure if I am supposed to say that outlaid) . It is also widely consumed in Andorra  (where Catalan is also spoken).

Coca originally came from bread that could not rise as it was not properly fermented. So the mothers or the bakeries put sugar on top to make it like a sweet treat. Nowadays coca comes in all forms, both savoury and sweet.

Croquetas de Pulpo

These Octopus Croquettes is definitely my favourite dish of all. It reminds me so much of Japanese Takoyaki but this is served with brava sauce that give the creamy croquette a slight kick. The octopus was juicy and well-prepared.

Panceta de Cerdo al Hoisin a 65ºC

Finally we had this slow-cooked belly pork with grilled crispy skin to finish, glazed with hoisin sauce and served with peanuts, scallions and a bed of creamy potato purée. The belly pork has its fat perfectly distributed which it just sort of dissolved in the month. And of course, the crunchy pork skin was also one of the highlight. I quite like how the sweet hoisin sauce and the scallion balanced the fat and the oily sensation, while the peanut sauce and bites added an Asian touch to the whole dish. The potato was so creamy, so buttery that I almost felt like I was eating butter itself. To be honest I may prefer just grilled potato slices to go with the dish as you don't want the buttery potato to override the overall flavour and balance of the whole dish. 

Torrija con Banoffee

The dessert of absolutely fenomenal. We shared this caramelised Torrija served with banana slices, toffee ice cream and caramel sauce as well as slightly salted mascarpone cream. Torrija is basically Spanish French toast (I am not supposed to say that lol). The overall combination worked out really well with all the different texture and balance of flavour in place.

 

It's always nice to share the same interests with someone especially when it comes to food. 😋

I think overall we paid around 56 euros for this meal in total including wine, olives and water. It was definitely worth a try and advanced booking is recommended. Hope you enjoyed my sharing! 

La Omma Gastrobar

Cami de Muntanyars, 17, 46012 València, Valencia

 

Lots of love,

Cherrie x